9. Mississippi State
Football: 6-7 overall, 6-7 in conference, 5th in SEC West
Basketball: 20-11 overall, 11-7 in conference, T4th in SEC
How Were The Football/Basketball Seasons? Beating Ole Miss was good. Getting to a bowl game was good. Losing to Louisville was bad, finishing 6-7 was bad, and firing Joe Moorhead before he got a chance to make the program all his was … interesting. In comes Mike Leach.
The Bulldogs managed to win 20 games in hoops and went 5-2 to close the regular season. It was a firm bubble team to get into the NCAAs – few teams nationally needed the conference tournaments to be played more than MSU.
8. Texas A&M
Football: 8-5 overall, 4-4 in conference, 4th in SEC West
Basketball: 16-14 overall, 10-8 in conference, T6th in SEC
How Were The Football/Basketball Seasons? Okay, so this might be a wee bit high – Mississippi State has a beef to swap spots. However, the 8-5 football season – a winning campaign, compared to what MSU did – with a bowl victory was enough to get the nod.
The basketball team struggled for most of the year, but it won five of its last seven games to finish with a winning season.
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7. Tennessee
Football: 8-5 overall, 5-3 in conference, 3rd in SEC
Basketball: 17-14 overall, 9-9 in conference, 8th in SEC
How Were The Football/Basketball Seasons? Both seasons were just mediocre enough to be okay. The basketball team underwhelmed in the middle of the season and couldn’t get anything consistently going – it lost eight of its last 13 games.
However, the football team pulled off a big turnaround in a fun second half of the year. It all started out ugly with losses to Georgia State and BYU on the way to a 2-5 start, but winning the last six games including a thrilling Gator Bowl over Indiana changed that.
6. Georgia
Football: 11-2 overall, 7-1 in conference, 1st in SEC East
Basketball: 16-16 overall, 5-13 in conference, 13th in SEC
How Were The Football/Basketball Seasons? The basketball team drags everything down.
The football side was terrific. It got to the SEC Championship, finished fifth in the four-team race for the College Football Playoff for the second year in a row, and rolled past Baylor to win the Sugar Bowl. However …
Basketball.
A brutal midseason run of ten losses in 12 games – all in SEC play – was too much to overcome. A win over Ole Miss ended the regular season at .500, but it still finished second-to-last in the conference.
5. Alabama
Football: 11-2 overall, 6-2 in conference, 2nd in SEC West
Basketball: 16-15 overall, 8-10 in conference, 9th in SEC
How Were The Football/Basketball Seasons? The football season was better than it seemed. Of course, anything other than winning the national championship is a clunker for Bama, but despite the loss of Tua Tagovailoa late in the year, it was still able to win 11 games and take down Michigan in the Citrus Bowl.
But it lost to Auburn, and the basketball team sputtered in the second half. The hoops side went 4-8 in the last 12 games.